


A Little Something

by LazyBaker



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Weight Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-13 19:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17494283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyBaker/pseuds/LazyBaker
Summary: Billy’s in his forties when he realizes that - yeah - he has to go up a few sizes.





	1. Chapter 1

Billy’s in his forties when he realizes that - yeah - he has to go up a few sizes. 

He doesn’t work out as much as he did before and maybe he’s not eating as well as he used to and ever since he quit smoking those cheap strawberry lollipops have become a sort of _thing_ for him. 

He blames it on Steve and his weird eating habits. He’s a bottomless pit. Can eat a dozen donuts during his shift five days a week and not gain a pound. He’s a _freak_. Prettier with his crow’s feet and has this swagger whenever he’s got his badge out that makes Billy cream himself nine times out of ten, but - _yeah_ \- still as freaky as he was in high school.

Billy pats at his stomach and it’s not the first time he’s done this, it’s just the first time he’s gone out of his way to notice it and recognize it for what it is.

“You got a lil tum there, hun.” Steve says. Pokes Billy’s belly. No abs in sight. Just. _Belly_.

“This is your fault.” Billy tells him. Glares at him. Joins in on poking at his own stomach. Steve leans down and blows a raspberry on him and there are _vibrations_. Ripples. 

Billy sort of wants to die and _definitely_ wants to kill him.

Steve’s all smiles though. 

“Whatever you say, baby.” Pats Billy’s stomach. Pecks Billy on the lips. 

“Don’t _baby_ me.”

“It’s a teeny tiny bit of fluff.” Steve says, emphasizing each word with a handsy jiggle.

“It’s _a lot_ of fluff.” 

Steve just rolls his eyes.

“Dinner’s done, _by the way_ , unless you don’t want to eat the delicious food I made for you?”

“This is a long con, isn’t it? Fatten me up and shove me in the oven, feed me to the nerds to get back at me.”

“Yep. That’s it. I can’t believe you figured out my master plan to seduce you and spend - what? - two decades together just to get back at you for being a dick in high school. I’m just so mad. How dare you.”

“You knew my abs were the source of my power.”

“What can I say, I had to do it. It was in the name of justice.”

“Fuckin’ knew it.”  

“You’re so smart, baby.” Steve says, cooing. Sarcastic and sweet. Steve leans into him. Petting at his chest. Making the same big, puppy-dog eyes he’s been making at Billy for the past twenty years that say a lot of things - _kiss me_ , being the big one.

“Damn you.” Billy says. “Goddamn you all to hell.”

“I hate that movie _so much_ , if I have to listen to Dustin one more I -”

He wraps his arm around Steve’s waist, tugging him in close, cutting him off. Gives his ass a sound smack to watch Steve melt and then he kisses him properly. The sort of kiss that means dinner will go cold and Billy will still ask for seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [the original tumblr post](http://granpappy-winchester.tumblr.com/post/181918375011/please-talk-about-chubby-billy-a-bit-more-like)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](http://granpappy-winchester.tumblr.com) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/cannibear)


	2. Chapter 2

After two months separation, the first thing Steve says to Billy in person is, “are you eating? What’s going on here?”

Steve pats at Billy’s now twenty-five pounds lighter, _new abs starting to make a fabulous entrance_ , stomach.

Billy’s wearing his nicest clothes - a suit Steve said matched his eyes that he hasn’t been able to fit into in _years_ \- and doesn’t think twice to lift his shirt in the middle of the restaurant to make Steve burst out laughing and to show he’s 41 and he _totally_ has it going on and Steve is definitely not making a mistake agreeing to this dinner.

Billy’s got something to prove and he’s going to prove it or he’s going to die trying. 

 _In betweens_ are for losers who can’t keep their man.

Steve laughs at all his jokes, even the few he’s been telling since they were in their twenties and living out of the camaro. Billy manages to sneak some food off of Steve’s plate and pretends not to notice when Steve does the same. They play footsies under the table and one of Billy’s shoes gets kicked and slides under the next table, hitting one of the diner’s - Steve _blushes_. 

Billy hasn’t seen Steve in over eight weeks and he can’t stop looking at him. He’s struck by how much Steve is smiling. Phone calls and photographs don’t match up. Billy falls in love a few times over. He hopes Steve does too.

They don’t talk about the elephant sitting between them. They laugh and make eyes at each other around it. It’s the best date they’ve had in a long time.

Afterwards, they walk along the beach barefoot, bumping shoulders. It’s nearly midnight, no one else is out. It’s quiet save for the slow tide washing onto the shore. Billy gives Steve his jacket to wear. Steve gives Billy his jacket too. 

“So?” Billy says, stopping. Toes sinking into the sand. Steve’s hair covers his eyes. Billy gestures at himself with a wide wave. Flexes his bicep. “What do you think?”

“Very nice. Definitely need to regrow the mullet to complete the _Forever Young_ look.”

“Anything for you, baby.” 

Steve studies him, pained. Billy shoves his hands into his pockets. He wishes he’d tried for a kiss instead.

“Max says you haven’t been returning her calls?”

Billy mutters under his breath, _snitch_. Goddamn little sisters.

“Are you - you’re eating, right? Three meals a day? You’re not skipping breakfast?”

“I’m not drinking.” Billy bites out, face going hot. He glares at the ocean so he doesn’t have to glare at Steve. “I haven’t had a drink in a month.”

“That’s good.”

“Sure.”

“I mean it, I’m proud of you.”

“That mean you’re coming home?”

There’s a pause, Billy’s question hangs in the air despite the breeze. Steve’s not looking at him, he’s got his eyes on the sand between their toes, uncertain over what he wants to say and Steve never used to shy away from him. Billy’s fucked it all up and ruined twenty years.

Steve reaches out then. Touches his arm. Slides his hand down to hold Billy’s hand in his -  Steve’s fingers are cold and Billy doesn’t hesitate when he pulls Steve’s hand up and breathes on them, warms them up between his palms.

The look on Steve’s face -

“I’m not gonna stop taking care of ya, Stevie. Even if you never come home.” Billy tells him. Kisses his knuckles, the back of his hand, the sharp bone of his wrist.

“I love you, you know?” Steve says quickly, smiling slightly. “I wanna go home and bake you some mac & cheese and fall asleep on the couch with you and, like, throw out my back. _That’s all I want to do._ ” Steve pulls his hand back gently. He crosses his arms over his chest, hunching in on himself. “And I know, I mean, I haven’t spoken to my parents in _forever_ so I can’t talk - I’m a glass house, Billy, I get that, but I can’t watch you hurt yourself anymore.”

“I’m not - I haven’t touched a beer in weeks, I swear. I mean, look - “ Billy pats his stomach. “I lost twenty five pounds. I’m working out again. I’m _better_.”

“It’s not about your _weight_ \- I don’t care if you have a gut or not, Billy.” There’s moonlight in Steve’s eyes, making them shine in determination. Steve says plainly, “your dad’s dead.”

Billy’s jaw clenches tight, all the ugliness he’s kept down tonight comes bubbling up. “I’m aware.”

“He was a fucking asshole.”

Billy snorts.

“He doesn’t deserve you even thinking of him. He’s - he’s _torturing_ you.”

“He’s not fucking _torturing_ me, _jesus christ_ , he’s dead. I know he’s dead. I was at the funeral too. I saw - “ Billy throat is in a vice, the ghost of Neil strangling him. 

Billy sniffs. Clamps his mouth shut until he knows he can handle _words_.

Steve doesn’t say anything more. He sits on the sand and Billy follows, watches Steve smooth his hand along the sand with the tide. Billy wants to lay his head in his lap. He wants to reach out so bad.

Steve’s made a line and Billy won’t cross it until Steve wants him to.

Steve’s silence makes Billy jittery and he’s already had two months of a silent house and a silent bed with silent mornings and silent nights and silent weekends - working out when he’s not _working_  until he can barely see straight just so he can withstand that crushing _silence_.

Billy breaks quick. No chance he wouldn’t.

“Just tell me what I have to do.” Billy says. Hides his face in his hand. “ _Please?_ ”

Steve doesn’t answer right away and Billy can feel his eyes on him. Says, slowly, carefully, mindful of the eggshells all over the ground, “I did some research and I found this counselor.”

“I’m not _crazy_.”

“ _Then talk to me._ ” Steve touches Billy’s knee. “I think the two of us can manage at least one serious conversation once in a while without it all going to shit.”

Billy pries his hand away from his face to look at him, imagines in such clarity how Steve will see him if he knows what it was like in that house. How weak he had been. How, despite the rage inside of him and everything that happened to him, Billy can still cry for Neil.

“You dont want to hear this shit, Steve. I don’t want to tell you. You’ll - “ 

He doesn’t say it. Steve reads the gap, reads Billy, and gets it. He’s always gotten it, even when Billy doesn’t want him to. 

Twenty years together - _twenty one soon_.

“Baby.” Steve says. “Baby, come here.”

Steve kneels beside him, pulls Billy to his chest and hugs him, becomes a shelter from the cold and the hate and the anger that storms inside of Billy.

Billy clings tightly back. Arms wrapping around Steve’s waist. Face pressed to Steve’s stomach. He wipes his eyes on Steve’s shirt, his nose too.

“I missed you.” Steve says into his hair. Kisses the top of his head and stays there holding him.

**Author's Note:**

> [the original tumblr post](http://granpappy-winchester.tumblr.com/post/182403482171/so-i-was-minding-my-business-when-a-plot-bunny)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](http://granpappy-winchester.tumblr.com) and [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/cannibear)


End file.
